Walking doll balloon



Nov. 8, 1955 J. T. AN DREADIS WALKING DOLL BALLOON Filed 001;. 23. 1952IN VEN TOR.

Jo'nw 7T AND/PEA 0/5 United States Patent WALKING DOLL BALLOON John T.Andreadis, New York, N. Y.

Application October 23, 1952, Serial No. 316,473

3 Claims. (CI. 4688) This invention relates to walking toys, andespecially to a walking doll balloon that is capable of a walking actionsuch as down an inclined surface by a gravity action.

Heretofore various kinds of walking toys have been provided but all ofsuch toys, insofar as I am aware, are made from wood or other rigidmaterial wherein legs are pivotally secured to a body portion of the toyand where the toys would be of appreciable weight and cost. To myknowledge, no automatically walking doll of any type has heretofore beenprovided, and specifically it is thought that no inexpensive,uncomplicated, easily assembled walking doll has heretofore been made.

The general object of the present invention is to provide a novelwalking toy characterized by the fact that it primarily comprises aninflatable balloon.

Another object of the invention is to provide an inflatable balloon withcertain cuff and foot attachments to make it a selfsupporting, walkingdoll.

Still a further object of the invention is to provide an inflatableballoon with means for restricting the connections between the legs ofthe balloon and the body portion of the. balloon so that pivots areprovided for the legs.

Another object of the invention is to provide a walking doll balloonwhich is inexpensive and which is made from several components that canbe easily assembled by the purchaser of the toy.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the invention will bemade more apparent as the specification proceeds.

For a better understanding of the present invention, reference should behad to the accompanying drawings wherein a walking doll balloonembodying the principles of the invention is disclosed, and wherein:

Fig. l is a side elevation of the walking doll balloon of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the doll of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is an exploded view of the balloon when uninflated; and

Figs. 5 and 6 are plans, respectively of one foot member, and one cuffmember of the doll of Fig. 1.

In order to facilitate comparison between similar parts in the drawingsand in the specification, corresponding numerals are used to identifysuch parts in the drawing and specification.

The walking doll of the invention comprises an inflatable balloon havinga head, a body portion and two legs; means for restricting the maximumdiameter of the legs immediately adjacent the body portion to formpivots for the legs; foot means for each of the legs; and cufi meansbearing on the foot means and engaging the legs so that the foot meansand legs move as a unit.

Attention now is specifically directed to the details of the walkingdoll which is referred to in general by the numeral 1 and which includesan inflatable rubber balloon 2 that includes a head 3, a body portion 4and legs 5 and 6 that extend from the lower portion of the body 4 andpreferably are longer than such body portion. An inflatable tube or neck7 extends from the top of the head 3 for use in inflating the balloon 2and it has a suitable string or similar means used to tie it shut afterthe balloon has been inflated.

As an important part of the walking doll 1, restricting means, which maymerely comprise strings 8 are tied around each of the legs 5 and 6immediately adjacent the body 4 to provide restricted portions in thelegs for forming pivots or joints so that the legs 5 and 6 may easilymove with relation to the body of the balloon. Usually the strings S areused to restrict the inflated legs 5 and 6 to approximately 4 inchdiameter whereas the remaining portions of the legs when inflated wouldbe at least 3 inches in diameter. In all events, the restricting meansreduce the leg diameter to at least one half that of the remainingportions of the legs.

A second important portion of the walking doll of the invention, whichaids in achieving the desired walking action thereof, is the provisionof foot and cuff means for each of the legs 5 and 6. Such foot and cufi"means are constructed and arranged so that they are positioned fixedlywith relation to the legs and so that the foot and cuff means and legsmove as a unit from the pivots provided for the legs by the strings 8 onthe legs. A rigid foot, or shoe 9 is engaged with the lower end of eachof the legs 5 and 6, usually by pulling an uninflatable end 10 of eachof the legs through a hole 11 provided in each foot and securing the end10 of the leg in one of several slits or slots 12 formed in the sideedges of each of the feet 9 so that the legs 5 and 6 and feet 9 aretightly and snugly engaged with each other. A cuff or band 13 is carriedby each of the legs 5 and 6 and the lower edge of each cufi is in firmor tight engagement with the foot 9 adjacentthereto. Usually the cuffs13 are made from cardboard strips that have inter-engaging slots 14 and15 provided in opposite side edges at different ends of such cardboardstrip so that an annular band, or cuff can be formed by the personassembling the walking doll of the invention. Of course, the diameter ofthe cuffs 13 must be such that the legs 5 and 6, when inflated, tightlyengage such cuffs and retain them in their given positions. The cufisaid in maintaining the feet 9 in fixed relation to the legs 5 and 6 withthe feet 9 being parallel to each other and normally extending at adirection normal to a plane defined by the center lines of the legs 5and 6 when in parallel relation to each other and extending directlydownwardly with relation to the body 4 of the balloon.

In assembling the walking doll of the invention, the balloon 2 should beinflated until the legs 5 and 6 are of equal length and are fullyinflated. Then enough air should be left out of the balloon so that thelegs 5 and 6 can be choked down adjacent the body by the hands to thedesired small diameter at which time the neck 7 should be tied closed.Next the strings 8 or other means used should be secured around the legs5 and 6 to provide the leg pivots and the non-inflatable end 10 of eachleg should be threaded through the holes 11 in each of the feet 9 andstretched up through and engaged with the slots 12 to anchor the feet tothe legs. As the final assembly step, one of the cuffs 13 is engagedwith each of the legs 5 and 6 immediately adjacent the feet 9 and theends of the cuffs 13 are interlocked or otherwise secured together. Thefeet 9 and cuffs 13 are adjusted so that they are straight andsymmetrical with relation to each other, as indicated hereinabove.

The balloon 2 is preferably made from a plastic material, such as rubberor rubberlike materials, but it may be made from inelastic plasticsheeting if desired. The

feet 9 are usually made of cardboard. The balloon 2 is usually greatlyexpanded when inflated.

While a string 8 is used to restrict the legs 5 and 6 to form pivotstherefor, such restricting means may be integral with or be built intothe legs in some instances.

Fig. 1 shows how the legs 5 and 6 and feet 9 act when the doll 1 isplaced on an inclined surface 16 and when the legs move to walk the dolldown such surface 16. if pull cords, or strings 17 and 18 are attachedto the front of each of the feet 9 and, preferably, to a common pullcord 19, the doll 1 will walk down the surface 16 as the cord 19 ismoved to the right and left to pull on the cords 17 and 18,respectively.

One of the slits or slots 12 in each foot may extend to the hole 11 inthe feet 9, if desired.

From the foregoing, it will be observed that a relatively inexpensive,uncomplicated walking doll has been provided which primarily comprisesan inflatable rubber balloon. This walking doll has novel functionalcharacteristics and will be attractive and amusing for children to use.The doll can be assembled in a short time by following a few simpledirections so that the objects of the invention are thought to beachieved. While in accordance with the patent statutes I haveparticularly illustrated and described my invention, it is to bedefinitely understood that I am not to be limited thereto or thereby,but that the scope of my invenion is defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A walking doll comprising an inflatable rubber balloon having a head,a body portion, and two legs extending from said body portion, said legsbeing substantially as long as said body portion; annular means engaginga section of each of said legs immediately adjacent said body portion torestrict the size thereof at such portions to less than half thediameter of said legs; cardboard foot means engaging each of said legsat the ends thereof; stiff annular cuff means engaging each of said legsand having edges engaging said foot means to retain said foot means infixed angular relation to said legs and pull string means having a pairof individual sections for individual connection to said foot means toprovide means to move such foot means and simulate a walking action bythe doll.

2. A walking doll comprising an inflatable rubber balloon having a head,a body portion, and two legs extending from said body portion; stringsengaging a section of each of said legs immediately adjacent said bodyportion to restrict the size thereof at such portions to less than halfthe diameter of said legs but to leave such section round; foot meansengaging each of said legs at the ends thereof; and stiff hollowcylindrical cuff means engaging each of said legs and having edgesengaging said foot means to retain said foot means in fixed angularrelation to said legs.

3. A walking doll comprising an inflatable elastic ruboer balloon havinga head, a body portion and two legs extending from said body portion,said legs when uninflated being of substantially uniform size the lengththereof and terminating in reduced width leg tips; string means tiedaround each leg immediately adjacent said body portion to restrict thediameter thereof to less than one half the inflated diameter of themajor length of said legs to provide pivots therefor; cardboard footmeans having a hole therein and an edge slot therein individuallysecured to each of said legs by said leg tips extending through saidholes in said foot means and being in wedged engagement with said slot,and a lead string having sections individually attached to said footmeans so that such lead string can be used to walk the doll down aninclined surface.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,609,362 Jones Dec. 7, 1926 1,612,643 Mulholland Dec. 28, 19261,621,353 Dahlstrom Mar. 15, 1927 1,635,835 Good July 12, 1927 FOREIGNPATENTS 651,266 Great Britain Mar. 14, 1951 661,644 Great Britain Nov.21, 1951

